Checking Back
by BlueGreyRainbow
Summary: Zach ran away, but comes back after school has started again to check up on Cammie. One-shot, Zach's POV. After OGSY. Mild spoilers.
1. Chapter 1

**Summary**: Zach ran away, but comes back after school has started again to check up on Cammie. One-shot. After OGSY. Mild spoiler.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own anything from the book … =(

The hallway was cold and quiet. Even though I had stayed in Gallagher Academy for several weeks at the end of the last school year, a lingering resentment towards it still resided in me. These girls ... they were cushioned. Protected. One might even say, spoiled.

Sure they might be required to know fourteen languages, how to perform a Malinowski Maneuver, or the standard protocol for a perfect exfiltration. But they couldn't be taught the harshness of living in constant danger or the necessity for perfection at every instant. Not in a soft place like this. They couldn't know what it was like to be surrounded by people you can't trust every day, like at Blackthorne. We were all assassins or spies for hire, and the Circle did serious recruiting there. Blackthorne boys had no ingrained loyalties, not when we might be on opposing sides in a few years.

I had intended to run away, to fall off the maps for however long it took until the Circle of Cavan realized that I would not be joining them. They had been following me, most likely hired by my dear mother. They still thought I could be recruited. But lately, less of them had been finding me, and I figured it was safe enough for me to check up on Cammie.

Cammie. She knew more of my secrets than anyone. Although I would have preferred that she not have to, she knew now what it was like being out in the world. She knew about having to make tough decisions, and how to run away when the time came. Unfortunately, by now the Circle probably knew exactly where she was, and by this time they'd be waiting for her at the gates for the moment she left.

But at the moment she was just on the other side of this wall. Even if it made me scared for her, it also made me want to go out into the hallway right now, just to hold her and kiss her and make sure that she was okay.

Solomon had told me to protect her- some kind of fatherly instinct, or maybe guilt for his best friend's death- but I wasn't pretending that was why I was here anymore.

So I focused on the group of girls who I was eavesdropping on through the wall of the secret passageway.

A familiar Southern accent floated through the air. Liz. "How are we supposed to know the essentials of blending into a crowd? We haven't even started that chapter, and we're supposed to write essays on it!" She blew off steam for a while longer, and I tuned out Bex's empathizing remarks for a few moments.

I let my mind drift off instead to a different day in this hallway. When it had been a fake Code Black exercise, and I had anticipated that Cammie would come here. I remembered how beautiful she had looked in that long red dress, how she had looked when I disappeared.

I heard Macey sigh, outside in the hallway. "I guess we'll have to read the chapter. Tonight. It's so unfair, though. Cammie would have known what to write."

As soon as she said that, I realized that there were only three girls on the other side of the wall, not four as I had assumed. And they spoke about her in the past tense. _Where was Cammie, then?_ I thought. All three fell silent at Macey's comment. She seemed to realize that she had hit a sore spot, and backtracked. "I ... I didn't mean to ..."

Liz sighed then too. "It's alright. I suppose that after four months, we shouldn't be this touchy anymore." After another pause, Liz muttered, "I still feel like we failed her somehow. Like we should have been there with her."

I didn't know what they were talking about. She couldn't be dead, could she? Seriously injured? The pounding in my ears grew louder, and I struggled to listen even closer, hoping with all of me that they would elaborate more.

"We'll find her!" Bex snapped.

"Bex, as much as I hate to admit it ... if Cammie doesn't want to be found, she won't be found." Macey's defeated voice seemed to bring reason to Bex. "You know how good she is. And I guess ... she must have had a good reason."

Bex was quiet.

They began to walk out of my hearing range, but I had heard what I needed to know. She had run, like I suggested. She was somewhere out there, alone but safe, waiting for this storm to blow over. She was somewhere out there, and I would find her.


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks reviewers! So I decided to make this a three-shot (thanks for the idea, Emandem). I'm not going to add anymore, though.**

**Once again, I don't own anything from the books.**

Zach POV

Usually I found Cammie from information I got from Solomon, or forcing it out of Circle agents (which I did three times), or even from sneaking into the Circle of Cavan headquarters and overhearing it from my mom, which I did once, before the headquarters moved again. But seeing as Solomon was in a coma and higher ranking Circle agents were after Cammie now (who were much less cooperative under pressure and much more difficult to capture), I had to rethink.

And so I called Abby, because there was no one else I could trust was on my side enough to call. I knew she didn't trust or respect or even like me, but she might have what I needed to know.

Her phone rang four times before she answered.

"Hello?"

"Abby? This is Zach."

Her voice took on a whole new tone, one that I recognized by now. The "_I-don't-trust-you-but-I'm-polite-enough-to-not-say-so_" tone. "Zach. It's been a while. Do you need something?"

I shifted. I was in the bathroom of a gas station far out in the country, and I had checked twice for bugs or anything else, but even so, I was hesitant to say this out loud. "I need to know where Cammie is. If … if anyone's seen her."

She was suspicious, and I didn't blame her. Actually, I was glad that they took her security so seriously. But I wish they didn't do it for me. "What was the last thing you said to me in person?" she asked.

"'I might be gone for awhile.'"

"What is the number of the cell phone we bought as a decoy in Costa Rica?"

"967-4138."

"What did you say to Cammie before you jumped off the train?"

"Be care- wait, you heard that?" I had seen Abby right as I jumped, but I hadn't realized she had been watching. I felt a little bit like my privacy had been invaded. I hadn't meant those words for anyone to hear besides Cammie.

"I hear _everything_," she said, and I could hear a smirk in her voice.

I sighed. "Well, good. Have you heard where she is?"

"How do I know you're not stalking her?" she asked, teasing me.

I stayed silent for a moment, because … in some sense, that was actually what I was doing. "I'm helping her," I finally said.

"Oh, all right," she said. "One of our spies heard one of the Circle agents saying she was near Albany, two days ago."

"Thanks, Abby." I was about to hang up, when she spoke again.

Her voice was more serious this time. "Zach?"

"What?"

"Don't … mess around with her. She's having a hard enough time. Don't make it worse."

She thought I was leading her on. She thought I didn't have any intentions towards Cammie. She probably thought I was a cruel, heartless jerk, and that was the opposite of what I was right now.

"I'm not messing around," I said flatly, then hung up.

XXXXX

I found her on my second day of searching Albany.

She was in an alleyway just a few blocks from the safe house I was staying in, and she was hurt.

"Zach?" she murmured as I nudged her shoulder gently.

"Hey," I said, trying to smile at her, but finding it quite difficult. She looked terrible. Her shirt was ripped, and there was blood crusted on the fabric around the rip. The entire left side of her face was bruised, and her jeans were ripped as well on her thigh. She was propped up against the alley wall, and looked as if she'd been there for a long time. "What … what happened?" I asked, trying to keep my voice from shaking.

"Just … a couple Circle agents. I was trying to get to the safe house, I just, ah, needed to rest for a bit …" she trailed off, seeming a little dazed.

"Cammie, your leg-"

"I'm fine, Zach," she said. She tried to stand up, before gasping and falling back.

"Cammie, you're bleeding!" Blood was leaking out of the hole in her jeans.

"No, really, I'm-'

"Gallagher girl!" I snapped. "You're not fine. What are your injuries?"

She sighed. "Sprained ankle, some bruises, a three-inch slice on my stomach, and a fairly deep gash in my leg."

I swore. It had obviously been more than a couple agents, but I picked her up very carefully. She flinched.

"Sorry," I whispered. I took the back routes to the safe house and laid her on the couch.

"Let me just find a doctor, get some pain medication-"

"You can't find a doctor," she said quietly. "They can't recognize me. The Circle would find me in a snap. But I'll be alright. They're just cuts."

She was right. What was I thinking? I got up to look for a first aid kit. Once I found one in the kitchen, I tried to clean her up as well as I could.

"Do … do you have shorts or something that you could change into?" I asked. I knew she wouldn't, but it felt better than asking her to take off her pants.

She shook her head, then reached down and slid off her jeans, wincing as they passed her leg wound. I squeezed her hand gently and then got to work.

When I finally finished, two hours later, all of her injuries were bandaged and clean. She had fallen asleep at some point during this, so I sat down in an armchair and just watched her rib cage rise and fall.

Up, down.

Why had I convinced her to do this?

Up, down.

_She'd be dead at the gates if she hadn't run away_.

Up, down.

But she wasn't doing much better like this, either.

Up, down. Up, down. Up, down.

And then I slept, too.

...

The next morning, I woke up at four. Cammie was already awake.

"Cammie? Why are you up so early?" I asked when I saw her. "You should be resting."

She jerked around in surprise, looking a little guilty. Then I noticed what she had been doing. There was a bag on the table in front of her, and she was putting some first aid items and snacks into it.

"You weren't … leaving, were you?"

When she didn't answer, I assumed that was a yes.

"Gallagher girl, you can't just go off on your own yet. You're injured. I think you should stay with me for a while." It was simply … logical. And probably a little more than that, too, for me. To be honest, I felt a bit insulted that she would leave without telling me, but I wasn't going to tell her that.

She sighed, and leaned back against the table. "I knew you would say that. I wanted to avoid this argument."

"It shouldn't be an argument, it's logical! And you were just going to … leave? Without even saying anything?" I was trying to keep the pain out of my voice, but it wasn't working too well.

"I was going to leave a note," she said defensively. Before I could say anything else, she cut me off. "And it's not safe for us to stick together. If they catch one of us, then they catch both." She had a point, but …

"You haven't been doing so well by yourself, though. Not based on yesterday."

"They sent four agents. They weren't well informed, and I barely escaped. They're likely to send more next time they find me. I doubt that we can fight off six, even together," she countered.

She was right, again, but what was the alternative? Let her get captured? "How will I know that you're safe, then?"

"You won't, but … "

"If you won't let me stay with you, at least let me check up on you sometimes. Every week, maybe."

She bit her lip. "I don't know … what if they track me?"

"Cammie, Solomon made me _promise_ to keep you safe." If my own feelings wouldn't convince her, perhaps her godfathers' would.

For a second, I saw a flash of … sadness? Frustration? Anger? Or something, in her eyes.

"Is that it? Is that the only reason you've been helping me? For Solomon?" A bitter edge punctuated her voice.

Oh. I didn't know how she could still be in doubt of my feelings, but somehow she was.

"Of course not!" My voice was louder than I had meant it to be, but I couldn't help it now. "It's for me. It's for my sanity. It's because I _love_ you."

I hadn't meant to actually say the last part out loud. I had been thinking about it last night, thinking about it after her last comment, but now that it was out in the open, I just watched her expression.

First it was shock, and then surprise, and then a whole new look crossed her face. "You love me," she said wonderingly, stepping closer to me, as if examining me.

I nodded cautiously.

Then her expression changed, and the most beautiful smile spread across her face, for the first time in a long time. "You love me!" she cried, wrapping her arms around my neck.

I put an arm around her waist and another around her shoulders, and then pulled her closer to me.

"I-" I kissed her, "-love-" and again, "-you." And again, a long, heady kiss that almost made me dizzy.

And for the first time in a _very_ long time, I smiled too.

**Too cheesy? No? I think Zammie is one of my favorite pairings ever:) Again, review please …**


	3. AN

**Author's Note **

**Sorry that I didn't make it clear- the last chapter had the last two shots. So this story is done. But if you have some ideas for another story, comment or PM me them and I might write it :)**

**- OllixBlueGrey**


End file.
